St. Luke's Gospel, Selected by Marcion as His Authority, and Mutilated by Him. The Other Gospels Equally Authoritative. Marcion's Terms of Discussion, However, Accepted, and Grappled with on the Footing of St. Luke's Gospel Alone.

Chapter II.—St. Luke’s Gospel, Selected by Marcion as His Authority, and Mutilated by Him.  The Other Gospels Equally Authoritative.  Marcion’s Terms of Discussion, However, Accepted, and Grappled with on the Footing of St. Luke’s Gospel Alone.

You have now our answer to the Antitheses compendiously indicated by us. ³⁵¹⁶ I pass on to give a proof of the Gospel ³⁵¹⁷ —not, to be sure, of Jewry, but of Pontus—having become meanwhile ³⁵¹⁸ adulterated; and this shall indicate ³⁵¹⁹ the order by which we proceed. We lay it down as our first position, that the evangelical Testament ³⁵²⁰ has apostles for its authors, ³⁵²¹ to whom was assigned by the Lord Himself this office of publishing the gospel. Since, however, there are apostolic ³⁵²² men also, ³⁵²³ they are yet not alone, but appear with apostles and after apostles; because the preaching of disciples might be open to the suspicion of an affectation of glory, if there did not accompany it ³⁵²⁴ the authority of the masters, which means that of Christ, ³⁵²⁵ for it was that which made the apostles their masters. Of the apostles, therefore, John and Matthew first instil ³⁵²⁶ faith into us; whilst of apostolic men, Luke and Mark renew it afterwards. ³⁵²⁷ These all start with the same principles of the faith, ³⁵²⁸ so far as relates to the one only God the Creator and His Christ, how that He was born of the Virgin, and came to fulfil ³⁵²⁹ the law and the prophets. Never mind ³⁵³⁰ if there does occur some variation in the order of their narratives, provided that there be agreement in the essential matter ³⁵³¹ of the faith, in which there is disagreement with Marcion. Marcion, on the other hand, you must know, ³⁵³² ascribes no author to his Gospel, as if it could not be allowed him to affix a title to that from which it was no crime (in his eyes) to subvert ³⁵³³ the very body. And here I might now make a stand, and contend that a work ought not to be recognised, which holds not its head erect, which exhibits no consistency, which gives no promise of credibility from the fulness of its title and the just profession of its author. But we prefer to join issue ³⁵³⁴ on every point; nor shall we leave unnoticed ³⁵³⁵ what may fairly be understood to be on our side. ³⁵³⁶ Now, of the authors whom we possess, Marcion seems to have singled out Luke ³⁵³⁷ for his mutilating process. ³⁵³⁸ Luke, however, was not an apostle, but only an apostolic man; not a master, but a disciple, and so inferior to a master—at least as far subsequent to ³⁵³⁹ him as the apostle whom he followed (and that, no doubt, was Paul ³⁵⁴⁰ ) was subsequent to the others; so that, had Marcion even published his Gospel in the name of St. Paul himself, the single authority of the document, ³⁵⁴¹ destitute of all support from preceding authorities, would not be a sufficient basis for our faith. There would be still wanted that Gospel which St. Paul found in existence, to which he yielded p. 348 his belief, and with which he so earnestly wished his own to agree, that he actually on that account went up to Jerusalem to know and consult the apostles, “lest he should run, or had been running in vain;” ³⁵⁴² in other words, that the faith which he had learned, and the gospel which he was preaching, might be in accordance with theirs. Then, at last, having conferred with the (primitive) authors, and having agreed with them touching the rule of faith, they joined their hands in fellowship, and divided their labours thenceforth in the office of preaching the gospel, so that they were to go to the Jews, and St. Paul to the Jews and the Gentiles.  Inasmuch, therefore, as the enlightener of St. Luke himself desired the authority of his predecessors for both his own faith and preaching, how much more may not I require for Luke’s Gospel that which was necessary for the Gospel of his master. ³⁵⁴³

Footnotes

347:3516

Expeditam a nobis.

347:3517

[The term εὐαγγέλιον was often employed for a written book, says Kaye (p. 298), who refers to Book i. cap. 1. supra, etc.]

347:3518

Interim, perhaps “occasionally.”

347:3519

Præstructuram.

347:3520

Instrumentum. [See cap. 1, supra. And, above, note 9. Also in cap. iii. and the Apology, (cap. xlvii.) he calls the Testaments, Digests, or Sancta Digesta.]

347:3521

By this canon of his, that the true Gospels must have for their authors either apostles or companions and disciples of apostles, he shuts out the false Gospels of the heretics, such as the Ebionites, Encratites, Nazarenes, and Marcionites (Le Prieur).

347:3522

Apostolicos, companions of the apostles associated in the authorship.

347:3523

He means, of course, St. Mark and St. Luke.

347:3524

Adsistat illi.

347:3525

Immo Christi.

347:3526

Insinuant.

347:3527

Instaurant.

347:3528

Isdem regulis.

347:3529

Supplementum.

347:3530

Viderit.

347:3531

De capite.

347:3532

Scilicet.

347:3533

Evertere.

347:3534

Congredi.

347:3535

Dissimulamus.

347:3536

Ex nostro.

347:3537

Compare Irenæus, Adversus Hæreses (Harvey), i. 25 and iii. 11; also Epiphanius, Hær. xlii. See also the editor’s notes on the passages in Irenæus, who quotes other authorities also, and shows the particulars of Marcion’s mutilations.  [Vol. I. 429.]

347:3538

Quem cæderet.

347:3539

Posterior.

347:3540

See Hieronymi, Catal. Scriptt. Eccles. 7, and Fabricius’ notes.

347:3541

Instrumenti.

348:3542

Gal. ii. 2.

348:3543

[Dr. Holmes not uniformly, yet constantly inserts the prefix St. before the name of Paul, and brackets it, greatly disfiguring the page.  It is not in our author’s text, but I venture to dispense with the ever-recurring brackets.]